I'll start with the story behind this picture. We visited with Lisa and Alec yesterday. Drove down to Middleville (aka "middle of nowhere") to meet up with her at her sister's house. Alec is just a month older than you, so it's nice to get the two of you together and see what you'll come up with.

In this case, you grabbed a dog toy and stuck it in your mouth while Alec — nicely, I can assure you, even though it doesn't appear so — patted you on the head. This was about as close as you tots got to actually playing together. The rest of the time you both careened about the room, glancing into each other on occasion. Mostly, you just kept us adults busy chasing you down. I think you had fun, though.

You also met Diego, Alec's eight-month-old cousin. Coincidentally, all three of you are adopted. Our own mini adoption-support group, I guess. Although we don't find ourselves talking about that aspect of things much. It was mostly developmental stuff. Sure, you're adopted, but first and foremost you're a 14-month-old boy who gets into everything and has no intention of staying put for more than 30 seconds at a time.

With that and our excursion to Saugatuck, it was a pretty eventful weekend. When we were at home, you chose to practice your newest trick — over and over. It's called "Opening and Closing the Door — Any Door." And it's the most hilarious thing you've ever experienced, if I'm to judge by the laughter.

This trick manifested itself earlier in the week when Mommy was in the bathroom brushing her teeth. You walked out of the room, into the hallway, turned around and pushed the door shut. Slam! I opened it back up only to see your very-proud-of-yourself expression. And then I got the door slammed in my face again.

You love to go into your bedroom and shut that door. The fun part is that Mommy is supposed to knock on the door and say something along the lines of "Devin, are you there?" You laugh and run away from the door. I open it and you run back across the room to shut it again. And again. And again. And again. Honestly, I think the repitition phase of toddlerhood is the thing that will send me over the edge!

Posted on May 23, 2005 08:08 PM